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Ep. 14: Donna Lopiano, President/CEO, Sports Management Resources

It’s never been okay to downplay a woman’s athletic ability but somehow we continue to allow just that to happen. For too long, we’ve allowed ourselves to view women’s athletics as a novelty or, even worse, as us (mainly men) doing them a favor. I’ve played or followed sports for over 20 years and I have to admit, one thing that always remained fuzzy to me was the true definition of Title IX. I knew it had something to do with equality, but I wanted to know more about it.

That’s where today’s guest, Donna Lopiano, comes in.

You see Donna plays it straight. There’s no misunderstanding what she means and there’s no confusion with regards to what she stands for: equality and doing things the right way. In fact speaking with Donna taught me Title IX is about much more than what goes on between the lines of any playing field.

In today’s episode, Donna and I discuss the definition of Title IX and what it was meant to address concerning campus culture (10:00). We also discuss recent harassment and rape cases at Baylor, Stanford, and BYU (25:00). We talk about the importance of Title IX coordinators (17:00). We discuss some of the causes of why the culture has gotten so bad on college campuses and within athletic departments (30:00). We also talk about why big time college athletic programs are reluctant to change despite it being the right thing (29:00). We also talk about her current role as President and Founder of Sports Management Resources and what she’s doing to bring about that change herself (40:00).

If you’re interested in more information regarding Sports Management Resources follow the link here. You can also follow Donna’s blog on the website here

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